


The Witches of Little Whinging

by Barid (Finale)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 00:11:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15448968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finale/pseuds/Barid
Summary: Albus had faith that Petunia Dursley would raise Harry. Minerva did not.





	The Witches of Little Whinging

“Minnie, you’ve trusted Albus since your First Year and throughout the War,” Isolde says, taking a sip of her tea. “Why don’t you trust him with this?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust Albus, it’s…” Minerva can’t quite find the words to explain her worries. Isolde is a Muggleborn, and she’d seen how badly Muggles could react to magic users. To Muggles who knew of magic and desperately wanted to pretend it didn’t exist. “They’re like your father,” she finally says, making her wife hiss. 

Isolde’s father had beaten her almost to death at age five when she’d made a tea pot float.

“Ah.” Isolde puts her tea down, carefully avoiding the pile of papers Minerva had set down earlier. “So why even let him give the youngest Potter to his aunt? Why not demand custody yourself? Demand he get raised at Hogwarts? The wards are some of the strongest in the world. Since I assume it’s for his safety that he’s been sent there, rather than to live with an Order member,” Isolde adds. 

“Albus believes that Petunia will find it within herself to love and raise Lily’s son. I know from conversations with Lily that her sister resented her magic and Lily’s status as their parent’s favorite. I’m certain that Petunia will raise Harry, or at least make sure he survives to adulthood. I’m not so certain that she’d do so loving, or treat him as she would her own son,” Minerva explains. 

“So your plan is for us to move next door and keep an eye on things?” Isolde asks, not really needing the clarification, just wanting it. 

“Yes.”

“Mmm. Well, it’s a bloody good thing I just published my latest book,” Isolde says, grabbing the first stack of paper. “Exchange rates are going to be a nightmare, and we’re going to need to be able to pay off the house entirely when we buy it. No mortgage for us. Should we sell or keep the cottage? As is, you only live here during the summer.”

“We’ll keep it,” Minerva says, taking a different stack of papers and a pen. Isolde insisted on Muggle writing implements, and she’s willing to admit they’re better than a quill. Fewer spills. “As a holiday house.”

“When was the last time we took a holiday?”

“When we got married.”

“...That’s horrifying. We got married almost fifteen years ago. We need to take another.”

“Focus on the paperwork Isolde.” 

“Fine, fine…”

* * *

Isolde has a cat sleeping on her lap, a toddler napping on her couch, and a strong desire to hex a certain Aunt and Uncle. Unfortunately, hexing Muggles is illegal, even when they deserve it. She doesn’t need to deal with Minnie getting upset, or Albus giving her a disappointed look again. She’d had enough of that in Hogwarts when she’d derail Transfiguration into a discussion of theoretical magic, rather than the practical he was trying to teach.

Well, that and the amount of times he’d caught her sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower and back to Ravenclaw after visiting Minnie after hours…

“Isolde?” Minnie calls softly, stepping into the living room. She’d been at Hogwarts all day, getting ready for the coming school year. “Why is Harry here?”

“They have him living in a bloody cupboard under the bloody stairs,” Isolde growls, scooping up the cat and putting him back down on the couch. “Follow me, I may need to shout and he doesn’t need to hear that.”

Minnie follows her silently, but Isolde can sense her wife’s horrified outrage even without looking at her. It echoes her own feelings, and makes her want to even more either hex the Dursleys or hex Albus.  _ Albus would in fact be preferable, seeing as it is his fault Harry even lives there _ , Isolde muses.

She flicks her fingers and silently casts the muffling spell, one she’d invented during the war. Useful for fast meetings in the middle of fights. More importantly at the moment, good for letting her raise her voice and not wake up a tired toddler. 

“Explain,” Minnie says. 

“The horse faced bitch--”

“ _ Isolde _ .”

“Fine.  _ Petunia Dursley _ , even though the bloody bitch does not deserve a name, asked that I watch over Harry. Supposedly, she needed to take Dudley to the doctor’s. I agreed, because Harry is adorable and a sweetheart, and it gave me time to ask a few questions. Such as how he liked living in No. 4,” Isolde says, pacing slightly. She has so much energy and so much anger and she just…

“He told me about how Dudley had two bedrooms, and he lived in a cupboard beneath the stairs. He told me about how he gets left overs, and based on how skinny he is and how rotund Dudley is, I doubt that it’s anywhere near enough. His clothes are secondhand.  _ He was surprised when I gave him a bloody hug and let him nap, _ ” Isolde snarls. 

“What?” Minnie asks, voice frigid. 

“You were more than correct in describing them as the ‘worst sort of Muggles’ Minnie. He’s touch starved, showing signs of malnutrition, emotional abuse, and general physical abuse,” Isolde rattles off. “Based on how obsessive I’ve noticed the Dursley’s are about being ‘normal’, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the abuse relates to a hatred or fear of magic. If he doesn’t end up a bloody Obscurial it’ll be a miracle. If he doesn’t end up dead I’ll be stunned.”

“You think it’s that bad?”

“Yes.”

Isolde closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, leaning against the door. She crosses her arms in a near selfhug, allowing for Minnie to actually hug her, and dropping her cheek to rest against the top of her wife’s head. 

“Albus won’t allow us to take him in, or to take him to Hogwarts,” Minnie says. “Not with bloodwards in place. And from what Albus has discovered, he needs to consider the home of a blood relative his ‘home’ too.”

“You’re a halfblood. Certainly there has to be some sort of connection there?” Isolde asks hopefully. 

“Unfortunately no. The bloodwards seem to run off of Lily’s ancestry anyway,” Minnie says with a grimace. “However,” her wife suddenly smiles, a sharp, catlike expression. “I have an idea, and I even think it’s one you’ll enjoy.”

(“Hello Petunia. Can Minnie and I speak with you and Vernon? It’ll only take a few minutes.”)

 

* * *

Harry doesn’t really remember a time when Aunt Minnie and Aunt Issy didn’t live next door. He knows Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon don’t like them, think that they’re amoral (because they’re both women and married), that they’re abnormal (because they’re witches), and that they’re terrified of his Aunts. But they don’t stop him from going over there every day, they don’t stop his Aunts from giving him presents. The only thing they do is complain, but that’s easy enough to ignore.

Especially now, when he’s going to be at Hogwarts with his Aunts for most of the year. 

He’ll just need to remember to call Aunt Minnie ‘Professor’. 

“Harry, we’re going to Diagon Alley today,” Aunt Issy says, knocking at his partially opened door. The beads at the end of her long braids click together softly as she sticks her head into his room. “You need to get your school supplies.”

“Can I leave them here?” Harry asks, knowing that if he has them at No. 4 they’d probably get destroyed by Dudley. 

“Of course,” Aunt Issy says, giving him a surprised look. “You don’t need to even ask sweetheart.”

“Harry? Issy? Let’s go,” Aunt Minnie calls, surprising them both. 

“Minnie? I thought you’d be gone for another hour?” Aunt Issy says, walking away. 

“I finished quickly. Albus can deal with the Howlers from the Board over the change to the curriculum. I’m done,” says Aunt Minnie, coming up the stairs. “So we should head to Diagon sooner, rather than later.”

“Alright,” Harry agrees, trying to remember where he put his shoes. “We can get ice cream, right?”

“Of course,” Aunt Minnie says with a smile. “Whatever you want Harry.”

His Aunts are the best. This is going to be great.

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of background on Isolde McGonagall: 
> 
> Isolde is a Ravenclaw and a former Keeper for the Quidditch team. She and Minerva married right out of Hogwarts. She was an Auror, but retired following the first Voldemort War. Due to believing in the curse on the DADA position she's refused Dumbledore's offers of it. Her mother is Ghanan and her father Irish.


End file.
